Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : SEO / SEM Discussions : Sub Directory SEO Help

[websoltech]

Hi,

I got into a huge fight with my friend about Search Engine Optimization, I need a huge favor.

I need help with this, and would be willing to return the favor.

I'm having difficulty educating my php programmer friend who knows with absolute perfection NOTHING about SEO (search engine optimization) about good SEO practices concerning sub directories.

For instance he built me this blog tool for my web site: hgh.tv

what the blog tool allows me to do is create categories

• HGH News
• Videos / TV
• Testosterone
• Hormone Replacement Therapy
• Human Growth Hormone
• Diet and Eating
• Anti-Aging & Longevity
• HGH Sports / Athletes
• Glossary
• HGH Hollywood
• HGH Products

HGH News points to ---------- http://www.hgh.tv/?show_cat=1

Im trying to tell my friend it would be smarter if it went to hgh.tv/hgh_news/

can someone provide me with a huge list of articles explaining this.....

even more than this is the actual article....

if you go to the category.... and click on the article

HGH is illegal if bought outside of the 50 United States

it takes you to

http://www.hgh.tv/index.php?subactio...5,6&show_cat=1

Im trying to explain to my friend that the best way to go is

hgh.tv/hgh_news/hgh_is_illegal_outside_of_the_50_united_states.php

how do i explain this to him. that the seo type adddress is better

than this crap....

http://www.hgh.tv/index.php?subactio...5,6&show_cat=1

Can anyone please help me, ill compensate you for it via paypal... we got into a huge fight over this...

[Zafar Ahmed]

Hello,

First of all, your website is messed up, the footer is all messed up.

HGH News points to ---------- http://www.hgh.tv/?show_cat=1

Im trying to tell my friend it would be smarter if it went to hgh.tv/hgh_news/

It is preferred not to use "underscores" in the URL, try "Dashes". You are correct, Google changes algorithm often and the newest algorithm can index pages which are dynamic and URL's which has

?show_cat=1

in it, but people always prefer to use /hgh_news/ since other SE like Yahoo uses old algorithm. Do not worry, if your URL has different characters, google will index it, just make sure your website do not have many sessions.

Do not worry, Google in indexing your website, have a look yourself:
http://www.google.com/search?q=site:...&start=10&sa=N

HGH is illegal if bought outside of the 50 United States

Here is a good tip:

If you put the same wordings in the title instead of the subdomain, this is same as having it in the subdomain, or perhaps better since Title tags comes under main factor of SEO.



You can PM me if you have any questions

regards,
Zafar Ahmed

[websoltech]

you think google likes

?show_cat=1

over

/hgh-news/



dont keywords matter more than some junky looking name like
?show_cat=1

i would think

hgh.tv/hgh-news/

would be nicer than

hgh.tv/ ?show_cat=1

does that make sense?????

[Zafar Ahmed]

Originally Posted by websoltech

you think google likes

?show_cat=1

over

/hgh-news/



dont keywords matter more than some junky looking name like
?show_cat=1

i would think

hgh.tv/hgh-news/

would be nicer than

hgh.tv/ ?show_cat=1

does that make sense?????

Hi,

Here is a video directly from Google about this:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...20126300142609

Hope it helps.

regards,
Zafar Ahmed

[1boss1]

Looking at how his code is structured i think he knows you are right but is having problems doing what you want.

Just point him to some of the top optimization sites such as SEOBook.com, SEOMoz.org, SeoChat.com and so on to check out the URL structures.

[Webnauts]

Try to keep targeted pages url's under 64 characters.
If longer necessary, try to keep them not longer than 128 characters.
If that is also not possible, in no case more than 256 characters.

My tip: Keep them short, with the good words in the domain and in the filenames. - No keywords repetition.

My Golden Rule: Optimize for search engines with humans in mind.

Let me clarify:

Suppose a potential blind customer visit's your site. What will the person hear with his screen reader:

Once the title as a url with endless of dashes between the words.
Then will hear the title of the page without dashes.

Would you like that?

Google says in the guidelines to check the site accessibility, testing with for instance the text browser Lynx? Why?
It is a site quality criteria. They also have the "Accessible Search" since a while now. Don't you want to rank better there too?

I agree with you not to have dynamic links as you described above. They must be mod_rewritten, using dashes, and not underscore.

About using of sub directories for different content nature categories is an excellent idea, as far they are not orphaned.

After all, don't over-rate the value of urls. Search engines are enhanced by having the most relevant results in their index.

Only a clean site hierarchy and an easily understood navigation structure will benefit both Humans and SEO.

Just my two cents.

[incrediblehelp]

Keywords in the URL/page names matter very little in the overall SEO side of things. You can see this everyday by looking at the SERPs. You'd be wise to spend your time elsewhere. Of course if your building this from scratch now, why not use them in a way that you prefer.

[Webnauts]

One thing I did not understand in my whole SEO career one thing.
I am very active in forums and blogs discussions, and every time I read: Don't worry about that, it is a minor ranking factor.

Since I assume we all are aware that Google has over 200 ranking factors, I would say that every single factor, no matter how minor it is, IS IMPORTANT.

And Google spoke:

Crawls are based on many factors such as PageRank, links to a page, and crawling constraints such as the number of parameters in a URL. Any number of factors can affect the crawl frequency of individual sites.

http://www.google.com/support/webmas...39&ctx=sibling

And Google spoke again:

How can URL parameters, like session IDs or tracking IDs, cause duplicate content?
When user and/or tracking information is stored through URL parameters, duplicate content can arise because the same page is accessible through numerous URLs.

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogsp...ed-by-url.html

And Google spoke once again:

If you decide to use dynamic pages (i.e., the URL contains a "?" character), be aware that not every search engine spider crawls dynamic pages as well as static pages. It helps to keep the parameters short and the number of them few.

http://www.google.com/support/webmas...n&answer=35769

Is it probably time to start a new thread like: Are Search Engine Friendly URLs good for SEO?

Just my cents.

[websoltech]

I'm beginning to realize concerning SEO the human equation is very important and a human being is more likely, when searching on for example, "hgh therapy" to click if they see

hgh.tv/hgh-therapy/ (Note keywords)

instead of

hgh.tv/category3?-1 (which is butt ugly url)

where are the search engine people who understand the human equation, or rather
why is there not more mention of the human equation?

and the fact that GOOGLE BOLDS KEYWORDS? isnt this more likely to draw the eyes? and clicks?

does the google bolding matter? when it comes to clicking when the keywords come up alot?

from a human stand point is someone more likely to click on an address if KEYWORDS are bolded?

Where does the google equation meet the human equation?

what are the 200 factors?

I would like to incorporate all 200 factors in my redesign.

[Webnauts]

Originally Posted by websoltech

where are the SEO's of higher human consciousness

If you want we can move the discussion to a higher level, i.e to Google Artificial Search. But what are you after for anyway? URL keywords stuffing? Or keywords repetition?

If not, why not hgh.tv/therapy/

Anyway, I think most probably do not possess that level of human consciousness, so I guess I must leave the thread now.

[Webnauts]

Originally Posted by websoltech

what are the 200 factors?

I would like to incorporate all 200 factors in my redesign.

Do you think that if someone would know them all, he would post them in the public and for free?

[nuclei]

for someone who professes to not know much about seo, he did a hell of a job getting some deep links tho in this thread didn't he.

[websoltech]

I'm trying to figure out what the best formula is for sub directories and how they should be organized.

by the way Webnaut, I appreciate your knowledge and insight, i meant no disrespect on the comment of SEOs of higher consciousness.

I have 3 years of data on all the keyword variations of HGH and Human Growth Hormone searches in google, how many were searched on a given day, ie. Impressions, so im trying to figure out for instance if a popular keyword in google for hgh is hgh weight loss

would I be better to make a whole subsection on hgh weight loss or simply
just have one really good page on it like this

and how would I make the links look?

Which is the best for google?

www.hgh.tv/hghweightloss.php (notice the no spaces)

or

www.hgh.tv/hgh-weight-loss.php (notice the dashes)

or

www.hgh.tv/hgh_weight_loss.php (notice the underscores)

or would it be better to use some capitalization of words or should it all be lower case?

Which of the 3 types, no spaces, dashes or underscores is the best way to go in your opinion

from a human centric point of view, my opinion is the dashes look the best...

www.hgh.tv/hgh-weight-loss.php

with www.hgh.tv/hghweightloss.php coming in second.

and

hgh.tv/hgh_weight_loss.php (underscores coming in 3rd)

Opinions?

[incrediblehelp]

I dont understand whats the confusion still websoltech??? There is no "best for Google", it is what works for you while adhering to some simple guidelines that Webnauts has already laid out fro you.

[websoltech]

ok, then let me reefrayze it, how about from a human stand point? which one is a human more likely to click on?

which would u more likely click on?

which would people in general more likely click on if they saw the results in google?